The Northampton flanker Tom Wood has urged the Rugby Football Union not to pick overseas-based players despite Australia’s decision to allow a number of expats to be eligible for selection with immediate effect. Senior internationals, such as Toulon’s Matt Giteau, will now be available for the World Cup but Wood says England should not follow suit.
Given Giteau’s club-mate Steffon Armitage could yet be a direct competitor for a World Cup place, Wood clearly has a personal reason for supporting England’s policy of not choosing French-based players other than in exceptional circumstances. The back-row forward, however, has backed up the Leicester and England hooker Tom Youngs in claiming a change could prove counterproductive for everyone in terms of undermining team spirit.
“I guess I am not against it in principle but as an English team we have set our stall out quite early and made things clear,” said Wood, a regular choice during Stuart Lancaster’s tenure. “I wouldn’t like us to back-pedal on that now … that’s what we have built our team around. I don’t disagree with Tom Youngs’ comments that it would be a shame [to change it].
“I’m slightly biased as one of the biggest candidates we are talking about plays in a similar position but you would also feel for the guys around you if someone were to miss out. If someone like Calum Clark here at Northampton were to miss out on a World Cup training camp it would be tough to take. It could have an effect on the team as a whole, never mind me personally. It could potentially undermine some of the togetherness we have built.”
As things stand Armitage and the Clermont full-back Nick Abendanon – both on the five-man shortlist for the European player of the year award alongside Billy Vunipola, Jamie Heaslip and Clermont’s Fritz Lee – can be part of England’s World Cup plans only if Lancaster opts to activate the “exceptional circumstances” loophole introduced to try to prevent a clutch of England players signing lucrative Top 14 contracts.
Australia, faced with a similar problem, have shifted the goalposts by allowing players with 60 international caps and seven years as a Wallaby squad member to represent the national side even if they are playing abroad. Others will also be eligible immediately if they commit to playing Super Rugby in Australia for the next two seasons. The ARU, which has announced losses of £3.26m for 2014, hopes the new policy will make European clubs think twice about recruiting Wallaby players who, under regulation 9, could now be called up for Test duty in November and June.
England’s dilemma is slightly different and hinges squarely on how they intend to approach this autumn’s World Cup. The 29-year-old Armitage’s ability to force turnovers would be a sizeable asset in the pool stages against opponents such as Australia’s David Pocock and Wales’s Sam Warburton.
Lancaster is due to name a wider World Cup training squad of around 45 in mid-May and Armitage has made no secret of the fact he would love to be involved. Picking a top-class player simply because it might make others fretful for their places is a rarity in elite sport and Wood, 28, concedes it is not a straightforward debate. “My point is that it may not help. It is a team game and if people start to lose faith then people aren’t pulling in the same direction. I think there is a lot to consider but I’m sure whatever Stuart and the other management decides to do we would all get on with it and make the best of it. It’s our home World Cup and we wouldn’t do anything to jeopardise it if that arose.”
The flip side is that, with the outstanding Giteau on board, Australia will potentially be an even stiffer pool threat. “From an English players’ point of view, I want us to have the best team,” Wood said. “If I am going to be picked, I want to be picked on merit. If there is a genuine competitor, I welcome competition from them. I don’t want to be picked because someone else cannot because of a technicality.”
